Malaysian radio station, BFM, spoke to Rhamis Kent, a Permaculture / Ecosystem Restoration Consultant and Educator, about the rapid growing interest in sustainable development and permaculture. Rhamis shares with us his experiences working on a number of different permaculture projects across the world from Somalia and Yemen to Jordan. He also discusses his hope to bring to the attention of the investment community an aspect of the emerging sustainable economy that has yet to be seriously considered for significant financial support.

Rhamis Kent is a consultant with formal training in mechanical engineering (University of Delaware, B.S.M.E. '95) and permaculture-based regenerative whole systems design. He has previously worked for the renowned American inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen at DEKA Research & Development, with subsequent engineering work ranging from medical device research and development to aerospace oriented mechanical design. After taking an interest in the design science of Permaculture, he sought extended training with permaculture expert and educator Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. This led to his involvement with design work connected to the development of Masdar City in UAE after Mr. Lawton and his consulting company (Permaculture Sustainable Consultancy Pty. Ltd.) were contracted by AECOM/EDAW to identify solutions which fit the challenging zero emissions/carbon neutral design constraint of the project.

3 Comments

NO, permaculture is NOT the same thing as the social/solidarity economy. Like Rhamis said: “there are probably parallels”, but permaculture is not an economic system, nor a political one, though there are permaculture precepts which can be applied to those systems. Permaculture is an ecological design science. It is designed to be a “PERMAnent agriCULTURE”. The three driving ethical tenents (1-Care of the Earth, 2-Care of People, 3-Return of Surplus unto those ends, i.e. principles 1 & 2) were first codified by Bill Mollison & David Holmgren in the book “Permaculture One”. These principles can be (and have been) *applied* to many things from economics, to politics, business models, social and even software engineering, but they began in sustainable agriculture. Permaculture is not a political nor an economic science, but the application of its principles pave the way for some very exciting advancements in those arenas.

Rhamis makes so much sense in this podcast and has opened my eyes to even greater ramifications of the problems and solutions of today’s problems. I want to hear and see more of this man. And Sir thank you for the work you are doing.